'Borked' European leader wins U.S. award

An Italian official whose nomination to the European Commission was blocked because of his views on marriage and sexuality has been granted an award by a Michigan-based think tank that promotes traditional values.

Rocco Buttiglione (Photo: RadioRadicale.it)

The Acton Institute for the Study of Religion and Liberty says it will present its "Faith and Freedom" award to Rocco Buttiglione, Italy's minister for European Affairs, at a ceremony tonight.

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During confirmation hearings in October in the European Parliament, Buttiglione was labeled a potential inquisitor and intolerant zealot for his remarks, which included calling homosexuality a "sin" and saying marriage existed to allow women to have children and the protection of a male.

Acton Institute President Rev. Robert A. Sirico, a Catholic priest, said Buttiglione was "borked," a reference to the quashing of Judge Robert Bork's nomination to the U.S. Supreme Court by senators who labeled his views extreme.

"Rocco Buttiglione was the target of a malicious and profoundly unfair campaign that increasingly resembles the assault on religious liberty in America," Sirico said.

Buttiglione was nominated to be the European Union's new commissioner for Justice, Freedom and Security. Before withdrawing amid fierce opposition, he wrote to EU president Jos? Manuel Barroso to clarify his remarks but also declare he would stand by his views.

"The only thing I cannot do is to change my principles against my conscience for political convenience," he wrote.

Sirico insists that a full reading of the hearing transcripts reveals a man of tolerance with a commitment to equality before the law and the equal dignity of every individual.

But opponents of Buttiglione's candidacy launched a public campaign that used selective quotes to cast him as a sexist and homophobe.

"Buttiglione was borked because he articulated genuine answers to questions about his personal beliefs even though those beliefs would have no role in his work," Sirico said.

Buttiglione, 56, is a devout Catholic and the father of four children.

Sirico argued there is a "critical difference between a healthy separation of church and state and a radical secularism that denies all public manifestation of religion."

He noted that last week, the tension in Europe over issues of church and state intensified as 1 million people from across the continent signed a petition to British Prime Minister Tony Blair and fellow EU leaders calling for recognition of Europe's Christian heritage in the preamble of the European Constitution

Reference to Christianity had been requested by some represenatives but was blocked by Valery Giscard d'Estaing, the former French president, because it would "exclude" and "offend."

Poland's president, Aleksander Kwasniewski, denounced the "godless" tone of the Constitution as shameful.

He told reporters: "I am an atheist and everybody knows it, but there are no excuses for making references to ancient Greece and Rome, and the Enlightenment, without making references to the Christian values which are so important to the development of Europe."

Rev. Robert A. Sirico

Sirico sees parallels to the situation in the U.S. as numerous public intellectuals and journalists in Europe describe the integration of faith, character, and morality as theocracy.

"Secularism is a value that religious leaders recognize but so much of the secularism that we see manifested in European and American public life is intolerant and anti-Christian,'" Sirico said.

The Catholic priest sees "a misguided sense that if religion influences the social and political decisions that Americans make, the values of tolerance and pluralism -- rightly understood -- will disappear."

"There is a struggle for religious freedom and everyone who values individual rights and equal dignity must become involved," Sirico said. "There are no sidelines."

Buttiglione is the third recipient of the Faith and Freedom Award, after Cardinal Francis Xavier Nguyen van Thuan, a Catholic priest who spent 13 years in a Vietnamese prison
because of his faith, and Sir John Templeton.